Hey everyone, welcome back to the saga of my broken ankles! This week’s installment covers Wednesday through Saturday, a mixed bag of triumphs, tribulations, and thankfully, some much-needed company.
Wednesday started on a high note. Remember Dave’s suggestion of a slightly later bedtime? Well, it worked! I actually slept well, which is a monumental achievement these days. I also managed to connect with a bunch of friends and family, and had the lovely Samantha keeping me company.
Occupational therapy (OT) came to visit after my check-in with the visiting nurse, with Samantha wrangling the pups for me.. OT was a bit of a mixed bag. The good news? We figured out a plan to get me into the master bathroom for a shower, once we acquire the necessary supplies. The bad news? We determined that sleeping in my own bed is a distant dream until I’m weight-bearing on at least one foot.
Which brings me to the cot. Have I mentioned the *awful* cot? Seriously, even though it’s a high-quality cot, it was never meant for long-term sleeping arrangements. My back is staging a full-blown rebellion. Andy came by later and rescued me with some fresh air out front, while Samantha distracted Finnegan elsewhere on the property (strategic pup management at its finest). Dave was working late, so I flew solo until he got home around 6:15pm. The rest of the evening flew by, and we were in bed around 9ish.
I woke up stupidly early *again* on Thursday. After an hour of staring at the ceiling, I woke Dave for my wheelchair. Albus had also woken Dave overnight, so his sleep situation was less than ideal. Around 5:30 am, I brewed my first cup of coffee, fully convinced that sleep was a lost cause. Dave headed off to work, and while making a refill, I managed to burn off the last vestiges of cortisone in my left shoulder. I twisted funny to fill the water pitcher, and *bam* – shoulder pain city. The irony is almost comical: once again, a coffee-related injury! I swear, coffee and I have a complicated relationship.
Samantha came over late morning to walk the pups and stayed for a visit until my physical therapy appointment. The appointment went well, although I tweaked the right side of my back doing a scoot transfer from the lazy boy to the wheelchair. If I wasn’t modifying it to work around the shoulder, it actually wouldn’t have happened. No worries, I still have drugs…lol We discussed some ways to temporarily modify the living room setup to make things easier for me. Once she left I elevated my foot again and did very little the rest of the day.
On Friday, Albus woke Dave around 1:30am to go out, which was fine with me because I was already awake, and at least I wasn’t the one who woke Dave. I fell back to sleep eventually and got up around 5am. About 45 minutes later I went for my first cup of coffee and could not locate either of my mugs, which means no coffee for me until Dave wakes back up, so several hours. The struggle is real, people. The struggle is *real*.
Just for clarification, while I was committed to two cups in the morning prior to my accident, I rarely had more than that, and almost never past noon. Nowadays my coffee routine is as follows: one cup of Death Wish Espresso Roast to start, then one or two cups of Green Mountain Dark Magic. More than one cup of Death Wish coffee is just not a great idea, so I keep it within the one cup limit. I know it sounds like I’m some kind of coffee junkie, but really I have a normal level of appreciation for coffee. My only coffee issue is injuring myself trying to obtain it.
I had physical therapy again today, and afterwards Dave and I spent another quiet afternoon together in the living room, until he left to go pickup Jenn for a weekend visit. It was so nice to have her there, and I really think Dave needed a non-work related break from the house, so it sort of worked out. We had a pleasant evening and went to bed relatively early.
Jenn and I are both early risers, so we met up in the living room for coffee around 6am. Obviously I couldn’t go anywhere, so we spent the entire day in the living room due to the rain keeping us indoors. In fact, it has rained every weekend for weeks now, and everyone is super tired of it. In spite of being a bit cooped up, we had a nice visit. Later I watched the first period of game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals, then went to bed. My dad’s Tampa Bay Lightning were playing, so I thought I’d check it out, but I grew tired and decided to read the results in the morning.
So, that’s the week in a nutshell. Cot life continues to be a challenge, coffee continues to be a dangerous pursuit, and I’m incredibly grateful for the friends and family who are helping me through this. Stay tuned for the next chapter!